Present Joys

lesliehowards:

Claude Rains by Al Moldvay, 1955.

Peter Lorre recalled Rains’s perfectionism and his “constantly studying” the script. At one point Lorre saw the chance for a prank that might break what the cast regarded as Rains’s overly serious demeanour. A scene having nothing whatsoever to do with Casablanca was concocted and memorized by Lorre and others. “When he came in the next day and saw us rehearsing the scene,” recalled Lorre, “he was frantic. He called me aside and said, ‘Peter, something terrible has happened to me. I can’t remember a single line.’ We all broke up and he wasn’t even mad—just relieved that his memory wasn’t failing.”

Reblogging this in honor of Claude Rains’ frames, which are completely amazing.